Kindergarten & 1st Grade

Our 5 year old reads very fluently (he can even read things
like high school science books) but when we give him a
story to read, he has trouble following it. He knows the
words and what they mean, he just doesn't understand what
is going on and isn't able to guess what might happen
next. This is also true if we tell him a story or if he
watches a movie. Is this something that will get better
over time or are there things we can do with him to help
him? Are there tutors who help with this sort of thing?
He is in Kindergarten now but I feel like he gets a pass on
this because he is SO good at reading & writing words.
Anon

This is a time to read very simple, vivid stories with your
son -- so that he can catch on to the narrative. Try Kevin
Hankes, George and Martha, Amelia Bedelia, Junie B. Jones,
Ursula Le Guin's Catwings Books, My Father's Dragon. Don't
be afraid of reading picture books. You should probably
spend some time in the children's section at the library and
just browse the books they leave out on the table. Children
often have asynchronous development, and your child has
figured out some parts of reading, but has missed others, so
your goal should be to fill in the gaps. Read easy/very easy
books with him for 15 or 20 min a day, and talk about the
stories together. I also would be as enthusiastic about
reading books ''below'' his decoding level, as those at his level.
anon
Please please please wait a few yeas to worry about your 5
yo reading. Kids develope at such different rates.
It's impossible to know if a kindergartener has
processing/comprehension issues at this age. Keep reading,
encourage reading, pay attention, but don't make an issue.
mom of learning issue teen
He's only 5. what a lot of pressure! Reading is
developmental. Most kids at this age who can decode, cannot
understand, just like your child.
He's got to have lots of experiences talking about books
with other kids, teachers, etc.. and being immersed in
literature. It doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't just
come naturally. This will only come with time. He's way to
young for you to be worrying about this.
teacher
There are many reasons kids can read the words in a book
and still not get the content. You might try ''setting the
stage'' by reviewing what the story will be about before
reading it together and making sure he has some background
knowledge. He might do better with very short books with
frequent stops for you or him to summarize and check for
understanding. It may be that the science books have
graphics that also help him understand the text, so you
may want to look for books with lots of illustrations, or
draw your own pictures together. If he likes science you
can also find kids' books on topics of interest. Finally,
he may be an individual who has trouble forming mental
images or pictures as he reads. He is a bit young for it,
but the Lindamood-Bell Visualize/Verbalize program can
sometimes be useful as well. Hope this helps.
Jan
My child is still only an infant, but I've worked with
children your child's age. I wouldn't be concerned. I
imagine your concern stems from your child having such good
word recognition and phonics skills and much less developed
reading comprehension. Consider the fact that your child
can technically read so well as a bonus. If his reading
comprehension was also well developed, he would be a rare
prodigy. Many children his age aren't able to predict or
follow that well. They can watch the same movie twenty
times, and they're still surprised. Is he interested in
stories? Please don't hire a tutor for your 5-year-old to
improve his reading comprehension. Just read with him and
help him to enjoy reading. That will go a long, long way.
avid reader
It sounds like he's having trouble visualizing what he is reading. It's something
that I would talk to his teacher about and try to get him help for. There are
some great books to help teach visualizing. Visualizing and Verbalizing for
Language Comprehension and Thinking by Nanci Bell is one that I use in my
classroom. I find it to be pretty fun and engaging, something that you could
practice with your son and not have it feel like punishment. You can find it at
amazon.
Good luck,
annon
This sounds similar to our son's story in many ways. I think you are wise,
perceptive, and lucky to be so aware of his strengths and challenges. Trust
your intuition. People may tell you that you're an overanxious, hovering
parent or that your expectations are too high, but I don't think you'd be
posting this if you weren't sensing something unusual. Our son could read
well above grade level as tested by word recognition, decoding, and fact-
based reading comprehension questions that asked for short, concrete
answers that could be found in the text. However, on carefully administered
comprehensive testing of reading comprehension, which looked at his ability
to draw inferences, interpret what he read, identify the main point of the
passage, etc., he was way below grade level. He loved to read non-fiction
with us, but from toddler years on had little patience for most fiction, though
formulaic series books sometimes caught his interest. In the early grades,
this isn't a problem because the emphasis is on the type of language skills
that come easily to him and, apparently, to your son. Starting in the end of
third grade, when more complex written expression and reading
comprehension are expected, he began to struggle and starting with fourth
grade, things went steadily down hill. By middle school, he couldn't do the
work.

Maybe things will improve in time, maybe not. I don't know what to suggest
for right now, but if and when you are ready to seek help, I'd recommend a
speech and language pathologist who specializes in language processing
issues and semantic language, or perhaps a neuropsychologist. Those are the
types of professionals who helped us. Others (learning specialists,
psychotherapists, tutors, most teachers) didn't have the right experience to
recognize the nature of his struggles or help him, and he wouldn't have
grown out of it on his own. The school was not helpful and denied there were
learning problems because he could read words so well. Once we obtained an
outside report and fought for help, he received some good language therapy
from an SLP within the school, which we had to supplement with extensive
outside support. He's now in college, reading fiction still isn't his thing, but
he's doing fine.
another parent

If he's in a public school [at least BUSD], he'll be tested
next year for his ability to comprehend what he so easily
decodes. You're doing the right thing by getting him to
read more age-appropriate stuff and then discussing it with
him, but next year, if he hasn't improved, he'll likely get
help at school with the reading specialist. The
comprehension problem [even with fluent readers] is really
common.
-jmf
I would suggest you read A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine. It
has a very interesting section on reading and language that
talks about how problems can arise at any level in language.

Kids who have no problem decoding and reading words can
struggle with semantics--sentence level--or with discourse
that requires them to infer or make conclusions. He
recommends strategies to build these abilities. Of course,
your 5 year old may simply not have enough context at this
point to understand the complex things he can read. It may
be a simply matter of waiting for his brain development to
catch up. On the other hand if you feel he is worse at this
than his peers he will benefit from the kinds of brain
workouts (during dinner, while riding in the car) that Mel
Levine recommends.

I engaged my daughters, 5 and 10 in a discussion of irony
(abstractions) on a hike and they were quite interested, and
even more pleased when I asked them to tell me again what
those pretty little blue flowers were and they said ''Forget
me nots!'' I never can remember what those things are
called. How ironic!

I also asked them what two meanings the sentence ''I wonder
how those fish smell'' could have. They loved the games.
This book has ideas for working on language, but what I
really like about A Mind at a Time is how Levine goes into
detail on where the problems can occur and how to address
specific problems.

Wondering what others have done or are planning to do with
reading and their kindergartners over summer. Our son will
be starting grade 1 in fall and is enjoying learning to read
now. We read at home together and he is approaching the
point (not there yet though) when he can read simple stories
alone.

So it seems too bad that he won't be in school getting
regular reading practice over summer. Obviously we'll keep
reading with him at home, but are there formal or informal
programs or plans or reading schedules that would help keep
up his enthusiasm and learning during the three months off?

What kept the flame alive for your kids?
Anon

Our local public library has a summer reading program -
the kids get rewards at 10 and 20 books, I think. The
books can either be read to the child, or read by the
child.
It's a fun way for kids to stay motivated to read over the
summer, so I suggest you check out your local library.
Also, there are usually reading programs for the younger
kids (assuming he can sit for a period and listen to the
librarian read) and yours should fit right in.
Marin Mom
All libraries have summer reading programs. The kids read books of their
choice
and earn prizes, get their names posted on the wall, etc. Many local
bookstores
also have summer reading programs. Ask your local children's librarian to
recommend books for kids his age, keep reading to him even though he's
beginning to read, and share your love of reading, bookstores, libraries,
etc.
This is such an exciting time!
Mom of kids who love to read
Hi there,
My advice would be to not worry about it in a structured way
but to just continue to foster your child's love of books
and reading! Ideally reading will be fun for your child,
something he (she?) goes to for comfort, fun, relaxation and
curiosity. At this age that is all you need. Just read
together as much as you can over the summer. Talk about
signs you see outside, occasionally point out how two words
are similar, have him read out loud to you from a simple
book, keep the pressure off and just READ! The rest will
come -- really.
Mom of two readers

Our kindergarten daughter has an early fall birthday, and although she loves
kindergarten, she seems far behind her peers in reading, letter recognition, and so
on. As of March, she recognizes only 19 of the 26 letters, and has similar issues
with number recognition. Although she is progressing well at this point, her peers
in her class are already reading. Her teacher has hinted that she thinks it might be
a good idea for our daughter to repeat kindergarten. Our questions to you all are:
1. What assessments do we ask for? We do not know if our daughter is simply
developmentally behind, or if she has a learning disability with symbol recognition;
2. Socially, what are the pros and cons of holding her back? Thus far, kindergarten
has been a wonderful experience for her, and she interacts well with all of her
classmates.
3. What programs/tutors are out there for kindergarteners to help them learn to
read? If we can help her during the spring and summer, she will most likely go on
to first grade. If not, we do not want to send her to first grade if it will be
frustrating and too difficult for her.

Thanks for your ideas and experiences!
Berkeley resident/private school

Your posting made me feel a little bit sad for you and for your
daughter. Do you remember what you did in kindergarten? When I was in
kindergarten (forty plus years ago), it was a place to play and
socialize. In the past decade, academic curriculum has been pushed down
lower and lower, so that now in many preschools children are being
forced to focus on academics rather than on the play that they should be
doing. Anyway, the point here is that it is TOTALLY within the realm of
normal development for your child to know only 19 of her letters, etc.
In a public school, she'd likely be right in the middle of the academic
range. In your private school, perhaps the school screens for children
who are more academically advanced in the first place? Or perhaps, as
is often true in private schools, many of the children in the
kindergarten actually ARE several months older than your daughter? If
you trust the teachers and feel that overall the school she is in is the
right one for your daughter and your family, then it is probably best to
trust whatever they suggest - I am sure they have retained children in
kindergarten many times before and have a sense of its effects. My
understanding of the research is that retention is rarely actually
advantageous, but as a preschool teacher I still often recommend that
children with fall birthdays spend an extra year in preschool, and
parents have anecdotally reported back that they are pleased with the
effects of the extra time. I do believe that the research supports that
the earlier the retention the less negative effects it will have upon a
child, so now might be the best time for you. I hope that if you look
for and find extra tutoring for your child, it will be fun, engaging,
and not too pressured.
Nanu
Our son was also a late reader and had problems with symbol recognition.
His teacher tried a lot of various methods, (writing in the air, drawing
in sand, tracing with a finger,
etc.) but by the end of kindergarten, he could recognize and remember
probably only 4 or 5 letters (and he was one of the oldest kids in the
class). The breakthrough was enrolling him in one-on-one tutoring at
Reading Revolution. They use a method where each sound is matched to a
hand signal (they call them Sound Movements), and it was like a miracle
for my son. The hand signals seemed to be the magic pathway that allowed
the information to get into and stay in his memory. We started him the
summer after kindergarten, and after three weeks of daily one hour
sessions, he could read simple words. He continued with weekly tutoring
during first grade and part of second grade, at which time he was
reading above grade level. He is now in fourth grade and is a total
bookworm, reading way above grade level.
He had three different tutors, all of whom were good and seemed to be
well trained, both in their methods and how to work with kids. They do a
good job trying to make the lessons fun and active. There's a Reading
Revolution center in Oakland (by the Grand Lake Theater), and they do
assessments. You could start there with an assessment and see what that
tells you.

As far as repeating kindergarten, it's hard to know, but if she were to
make a breakthrough she could catch up very quickly, so I would be
concerned if the only reason for holding her back was because of the
reading issues.
Mom of a voracious reader

Don't hold your child back! THe research shows that itis a lasting
emotional scar for kids to have been held back, no matter what the
circumstances (late fall birthday, for example).

Get Hooked On Phonics. It is fun to do and it is now available for $140
at Costco (instead of the usual $300). I bet your child just needs some
one-on-one time doing phonics. I taught my 6-year-old to read with it a
couple years ago and she really enjoyed it and now I am teaching my
5-year-old and she loves it, too. It doesn't hurt that we play a game
where I put out the sight word cards with a chocolate soy nut (from
Trader Joe's) on each one and she gets to eat the soy nut (or mini
chocolate chips---Nestles in the baking section---they are really tiny)
after she reads the word. Another thing to do is to take a square block
and tape one sight word to each side and write each sight word on a
piece of paper. Then have her roll the die and read the word and put a
tally mark next to each word on the list as it comes up on the die. She
keeps going until she has rolled all six words on the die. Then count
the tallies and see which word got the most.

Hooked on Phonics has a good method and if you do it with your child
you'll know what she is working on. Then take every opportunity to
point things out that she can read as you are walking around town.
Today, for instance, we saw a sign that said ''Dogs On Leash'', so I had
my 5yo read ''Dogs On'' and I read ''Leash''. It is exciting for them
to realize that the world is full of things that they can read. (Same
with numbers, by the way, point them out wherever you go).

The stories and illustrations in Hooked on Phonics are great and the CD
of games that comes with the first box is superb.

If you would like someone else to work with your child over the summer
Ivy Sandz is terrific. You can find her online at:
www.literacyaccess.com
She teaches reading and writing in a little cozy cottage behind her
North Berkeley home and has great rapport with kids.
Good luck!
susan

Hi,
I am a former elementary teacher; I taught first grade and special
education for grades K-6. I have extensive training and experience in
teaching reading. From what you describe, I would guess that you have a
developmental lag on your hands and not a learning disability.
Generally, learning disabilities present themselves across the board,
not specifically in certain areas of the cirriculum.

Following are my suggestions for things to think about:

While it seems common that kindergarteners learn to read, it is a more
complex situation than you may realize. First, it isn't a developmental
expectation. If your school expects kids to read in kindergarten, your
child is a victim of ''curriculum shove-down'' where curricula gets
''shoved down'' to the grade below in order to keep up with
(unrealistic) expectations of people in the school community and/or by
the pressure exerted by the state mandated testing. Secondly, are you
sure the other kids are really reading? This is difficult to ascertain,
however, some kids have great visual memories and can recognize words by
memory and where the content of what they are reading is fairly
simplistic, they can easily figure out words they don't memorize and
appear to be reading. I've even seen kids completely able to memorize
simple books because of repeated readings by adults. Other kids use
their memory skills to apply a phonetic based approach, but have no idea
as to what they read in terms of comprehension. Other kids use the
pictures to trigger the printed words. All of these situations I've
described above can be a part of the process of learning to read, but by
far, none could truly be described as reading.

Your child may also be a ''victim'' of a skewed student population,
where most of the children are performing above grade level... when you
compare kids in a class, someone has to be first and someone has to be
last... your child's teacher may in part be motivated by this... I knew
a regular education teacher who automatically referred for special
education evaluation the bottom 3 kids in her class every year, for no
other reason than they were the bottom 3... she was just covering
herself in case problems came up later on down the line in the upper
grades.

It is also within developmental norms that your child has not yet
mastered the alphabet/numbers. However, your child is likely at the low
end of those norms. I believe that your child's age is likely a factor
here. In the early grades, the age span can be almost a year difference
among the oldest and youngest children in a classroom. This makes a
huge difference in terms of development. Typically, this developmental
difference is seen among boys, who tend to lag behind girls in their
development, but I've seen it with girls as well.

You are now in a bit of a sticky situation. If she repeats
kindergarten, it will likely be a bit of a blow to her in terms of her
own sense of self as well as socially with the other kids. However, if
she fails to catch up and falls further behind in first grade, she may
not be able to close the gap at all. The curriculum goes faster and
faster with each year, and the teachers tend to expect more. If you are
leaning towards retention, do it now. Although she may struggle with
the issues I raised above, in my experience, she has the best chance of
getting past it the younger she is. By the end of first grade, in my
experience, it will be too late.

If you do retain her in kindergarten, find out specifically how the
school will handle it (same teacher or different one?, etc.) and what
the school will do (if anything) to help assure that your child will
benefit from the experience the second time around.
While exposure to the same curricula will likely offer your child the
chance and time she needs to grasp it because she will be
developmentally ready, what will they do if she ''takes off'' quickly,
masters the subject matter, and needs more of a challenge than is
offered in the kindergarten curricula? Ask how the school suggests you
handle it with your child- how to explain it, etc. If there isn't a
school counselor, contact one privately for advice... Barbara Waterman
is wonderful... she's reviewed on this site and her contact info is
given.

Ask for a meeting with the teacher and principal together. Ask what the
school's standards are for promotion and retention. Ask them, in their
experience, whether they see signs of learning disability or whether
they feel the issue is her developmental readiness. If it's
developmental readiness, I'd feel more comfortable retaining her.

If they suspect learning disability, you should ask the school how to
pursue testing for learning disabilities. Act on it quickly, as the
school year is drawing to a close and there are deadlines to meet once
an evaluation begins, so at some point there is a cut off for new
evaluations until the next school year. If you are beyond the cut off
date and learning disabilites are suspected, pursue the evaluation
privately if you have the means. Ann Martin Children's Center is one
I've heard recommended.
I had a student who was in a similar situation as your child at the end
of her kindergarten year. Her parents did not retain her in kdg and had
her in SCORE all summer and all through first grade. She was bright,
caught on quickly, and was one of my best readers from the start of
first grade. She had a late fall birthday
(November- close to Thanksgiving). Socially, she was a bit immature.
The SCORE
experience gave her confidence in her abilities and mastery of the
skills she needed to be a successful reader, both in terms of decoding
(phonics and sight words) as well as comprehension. And she LOVED it.
Of course, not knowing your child, I can't say whether I think it would
help. My general advice is that it likely would help if your child is
having a developmental lag. If there are learning disabilities, I would
be less certain without knowing the specifics.

I hope you find this helpful. Best of luck to you and your child. The
best thing you can do for your child is be her advocate and keep her out
of the fray as much as possible. Kids know when they don't measure up
with other kids, even if no one says anything directly. She needs you
to tell her that you want to help her do her personal best (not be the
best among all the others) and that you love her no matter what.
-a former teacher

I think that 'holding' your daugher back for another year of
kindergarten
is not a bad idea. You have noticed that she seems to enjoy it so why
not, where's the harm? There will be no social stigma for this, and she
will hardly know the difference. Pushing your daughter to read faster
at a pace that is not yet comfortable for her might do her more harm
than good. My brother repeated second grade, and he told me in later
years that he liked that he had, because that made him a little bit
older that his classmates, and thus, cooler.
Lisa
I am not sure what your child is eligible for in private school, but in
public schools you can ask for an IEP or 504. The IEP requires an
assessment to see if the child has special learning needs and then
requires the school to set up the individualized education plan to
accomodate them. A 504 plan addresses specific areas of learning. Both
require assessments, and I would strongly urge you to talk with your
school to see what you may be able to get through them or through the
public school system (which can be very good for these types of needs).

I would also encourage you to keep an open mind about giving your child
another year in kindergarten. We made the decision to hold our first
grader back last year because of maturity issues (that were affecting
his ability to get work done and keep up with the rest of the class).
Academically he could probably have moved on, but we were persuaded to
give him the extra year. While it was painful and discouraging and
humbling for us at first, I can genuinely say without any hesitation at
all, that it was absolutely the best decision we could have made. Our
son agrees as well.

Our son is now at the top of his class and in a leadership role that he
is very proud of. His confidence has gone through the roof, and he
doesn't despair that he can't keep up with the rest of the kids. He is
doing things in first grade again that I know he would never have been
able to do if we'd just moved him on to second grade. I think he would
have fallen further and further behind, which would have taken a far
greater emotional toll on him. It took a bit of adjustment during the
first few weeks of school, but the other kids didn't care and no one
made fun of him (which was our primary concern, even though it would not
have been tolerated to any degree in the school).

Both his teacher and the school principal were spot on in everything
they said to us about the retention and I am so glad we trusted their
experience and insights and didn't try to push him ahead. They
actually persuaded me to just let him enjoy the summer and not put him
in the more rigorous academic camp I had been considering. We did find
a college student to work with him a bit and I know that helped. We
moved him along in the same activities with his age peers, so he had
that continuity.
The retention actually helped him expand his pool of friends, and that's
a pretty big point to express should you decide to give your child an
extra year. We were really warmed by the support we got from other
parents, friends and teachers as well,
who love our son and understand that he is a late bloomer.

At this age, it's really important to remember that education is not a
sprint. School is a marathon, and the more time we give our kids to
find their stride and develop the toolset they need to succeed, the
better it is for them. While it might be difficult for them to adjust
to their ''redshirt'' status, ultimately they (and you) will understand
that another year of kindergarten or first grade or whatever it is that
they need is a gift that will help them through the rest of their
academic years.

Good luck with your decision.
Relieved redshirt mama

I'm a Credentialed teacher and reading specialist trained in Reading
Recovery. In my years in education we've seen pendulum swings in the
teaching of reading.
I have not met your daughter, but I have worked one on one with first
graders who tested behind the rest of their class and did not like
reading. I've also worked with small groups of kindergartners at the
end of the year and been able to make some signifigant changes.

In recent years the phonics emphasis has made the reason for reading
and writing less clear for many students.
I can't make any guarantees, but I would be willing to do an
introductory session free of charge. There is a lot more to reading
than letter sound knowledge. It's important, but some children don't
hook into why they should read if they think it's merely the decoding of
books they don't like.

A lot can be learned between now and September, particularly with
parental support.
Confidence in reading can change a child's perception of themselves.
Carol

I have a question for you....were you reading in kindergarten?
I wasn't and none of my peers were. In kindergarten we played, learned
to socialize, did role playing, colored, sang songs, and played some
more.

In first grade we started learning letter recognition and writing.
I was not a reader untill 3rd grade. My 14 year old son was reading in
kindergarten...he's never stopped.
My 10 year old son is in 3rd grade and doesn't much like reading
although he can do it...but couldn't read well last year in 2nd grade.
My point is that kids develop at different ages and if parents in your
child's class tell you that their kids are recognizing all letters and
reading, they're either lieing or there is an unusual group of kids
there.

I believe it's the Waldorf School that doesn't even teach reading till
kids are 8 or so.

Please don't worry. Your child will read. Please don't pressure her(I
think you said daughter...forgive me if I'm wrong).
She really will read when her little brain is developed enough for her
to read. If she happens to have learning difficulty, it's too early to
find out at this age anyway. If the teachers are pressuring you or your
child, I'd find a different school.
Hope this helps. you can tell this really hit a sour note with me.
mom of a reader and a non reader

We are in a public school in El Cerrito (Harding) so I can't speak to
how privates deal with the issue but perhaps hearing about my son, a
struggling reader, might be helpful to you. I won't address the
retention issue but will share some insights about how kids learn
differently.

At the end of kindergarten, my son wasn't reading. He wasn't the only
one in the class but it was noted on his report cards that he had a weak
visual memory. We didn't do anything during the summer between
kindergarten and 1st grade. We wanted him to enjoy his summer camps and
have fun. We figured the reading stuff would evolve naturally.

At the end of first grade the teacher began talking to us about
''learning difficulties'' and suggested that we get someone to work with
him during the summer. She also said we might want to consider getting
him an assessment through the district in 2nd grade if things didn't
improve. We decided to hire a private learning specialist (with a
Master's in Special Ed) to work with him 3 hours/week during the summer.
She used special multisensory learning tools to help him with blended
letter sounds, reinforce his sight word vocabulary, and build his
reading endurance. I think she brought him up half a grade in just 7
weeks.

Now we are reaching the end of 2nd grade and he is finally reading, and
really enjoys books. He loves anything about volcanos or robots. He
reads more slowly than other boys his age but the teachers are really
great about breaking the lessons down into smaller bits for him and they
are utilizing a volunteer (a retired schoolteacher) who works with him
individually for 30 minutes per day. She helps him using a program
called ''Handwriting Without Tears'' and gives him extra time to read
the weekly ''assessments'' that are required by his school.

We are having him assessed next month by the district which may entitle
him to even more accommodations than he is getting currently. And he
will see his learning specialist this summer too because they have an
excellent rapport. I've spoken with the special ed teacher at our public
school and she uses some of the same techniques as the expensive private
educational therapist we've been using!

Also, my son is a quick study in math and has an amazing oral memory so
the principal suspects the assessment may come back as ''gifted'' in one
area and learning disabled in another. It's more common than you would
think.

So what I've learned from all this is:
1. If you decide to use an outside educational therapist, ask them to
meet with the classroom teachers as soon as you get into 1st grade.
You'll be perceived as someone who is eager to ''partner'' with all the
adults who are invested in the success of your child not as someone
demanding services. You want everyone on your side.
2. Kids have strengths and weaknesses. A deficit in one area does NOT
mean your kid is learning disabled in all areas. Your school should be
compassionate about this. If they aren't, consider finding another
school.
3. Public schools for all their deficits are an excellent place for kids
with learning disabilities. They've got more resources to offer parents.
And teachers are quite sensitive to early identification and support for
these kinds of students.
4. Early intervention is key but it's also important to realize that
kids brains are wired differently and they will do things on their own
schedule. Whether your kid reads in preschool or in 2nd grade really
doesn't matter that much. As long as you help them to love learning by
feeding their interests, you'll have a lifelong learner.
5. Don't indulge in blaming yourself. It's a waste of time. Your time is
better spent being patient and persistently pursuing all the resources
available for your child.
--proud mom of a struggling reader

A kindergartener who is not yet reading is NOT ''developmentally
behind''! I am really frustrated by the constant pushing down of
academic expectations. To label your daughter as ''failing''
because she is not yet reading seems unfair to everyone. My daughter
was nowhere near reading in kindergarten, but by second grade, couldn't
put books down. She now attends a very selective high school, and is
one of the top English students in her class.

I can't advise on tests, retention, or considering changing schools,
but can only express my sadness that it's come to this!

Let's try to recognize that kids learn to read at different times, and
at different rates. You say she is progressing, so I suspect she is
developing in other areas right now, and will make more progress if you
let her do it when she's ready.
Mom of ''late'' reader

Hi there - I am very glad that you posted because the issue you are
stating is one that affects all parents, I feel. First of all, I am a
Kindergarten teacher of eight years trained in working with children
with special needs and in a regular elementary setting. I am currently
getting my Master's Degree at Mills in Early Childhood education. YOUR
CHILD IS NOT BEHIND IF THEY CANNOT READ IN KINDERGARTEN!!!! (I wish I
could tattoo this on my forehead and walk around...) While I am sure
this teacher has a reason for this statement (political, lack of
training, etc.), she is simply developmentally incorrect. Your child
does not need tutoring, she needs time and developmentally appropriate
language and literacy experiences to develop vocabulary, comprehension,
basic skills, and a LOVE OF READING (a key component that many educators
are leaving out these days).
Drilling your child on sight words, taking them to tutoring, or sending
a message that she is ''behind'' will not assist in this process.

Sorry - enough of my soapbox. Do you like this school? This teacher?
Can you have a constructive conversation about this with the teacher or
administrator? Do you have choices for next year? What are they
proposing you do? How is your child reacting to ''reading instruction''
at school? Do they feel frustrated? Like a failure? If so, I can tell
you that those feelings last a long time...and they will affect him/her
in many areas of their education.

If you like, please contact me off-list - I would be happy to help in
any way that I can. (My knowledge of schools that might better serve
your daughter is limited to the East Bay though.) But I can also give
your other questions to ask your teacher in order to work through this
issue and ideas of how to counterbalance this situation at home. I wish
you well. Theresa

Your child is not behind! Don't worry. Many Kindergardeners leave
Kindergarden not knowing how to read. It isn't a requirement that they
read, it couldn't really be, because Kindergarden is not manditory and
if kids come into the first grade with no formal education, then they
can't read, and they're still put in the first grade. Don't worry,
please, about your own child. My daughter wasn't reading in Kindergarden
(just a LITTLE bit, but practically no comprehension) and she is now by
far the fastest reader in her class, in fifth grade. Your child will
bloom in their own way and time.
Zacharias
I didn't see your original post and I really like the supportive answer
the person who responded gave you. I would also like to say don't worry
but there is one problem.
The way things are going now, they are pushing children to learn to read
in public school in kindergarten (and this effects private school
curriculum as well). It is wrong, it is developmentally inappropriate
and I am totally against it. Yet is is happening. Because it is,
children can feel bad about their reading ability or can begin to fall
behind. That said, some kids actually do need some extra help because
reading does not come naturally for many children, especially when
beginning at such a young age. Because your child needs to keep up, I
think it would be worth getting your child assessed and perhaps doing a
tutoring program.

I was told my child had problems in kindergarten and I took action
because my son was beginning to feel bad about lagging behind his
classmates. We consulted with a really amazing learning specialist in
Oakland, Dr. Ariel (Orna) Lenchner. Best decision we ever made. Because
my son really was having problems hearing the different letter sounds
and that was what was slowing him up. She is terrific with fidgety kids
and very fun. She helped him distinguish between letter sounds and
taught him all the phonics rules and now he can sound out any word he
sees. He is in first grade this year and reading at grade level. It took
a few months of weekly sessions then all of a sudden it clicked. Dr.
Lenchner could assess your child and make a recommendation. Here's her
website and phone number:
www.earlyliteracywizard.com, Phone: (510) 655-2952.
Good Luck!

In your post, you recognize that your daughter's recent anxiety
toward gymnastics class is caused by the fact that she's not performing
as well as the other girls. In the past she's has had easy success, and
this sudden ''failure'' is upsetting to her.
In addition to the supportive comments you make to her, I also
encourage you emphasize that it's OK to fail at some things.
Lead by example--let her see you do something and fail (hopefully
something not too serious or traumatic), and also let her see how you
react to and, hopefully, overcome that failure. For example, when I was
teaching my kid to ride his two-wheeler, he also saw me crash twice (too
distracted watching him ride his wobbly bike), once into a rose bush
(ouch!) and once on the asphalt, scraping and messing up my knee in the
process...but I got back on my bike and kept riding. Kids need to learn
that it's OK to fail at something, the main lesson being how to stay
persistent and overcome failure (or know when to let it go).
I don't know she is aware that you describe her as ''gifted'', but
it would be a good thing for her to recognize that all people, including
herself, are good at some things, and are not so good at other
things...not to say that people should only stick with things they are
good at, and give up on the things they are not so good at.
OK to fail
I read with interest the ''Sensory Motor'' Indicators for reading
readiness from a Waldorf perspective and I don't think any of
this resonates if your child truly has a learning disability that
is preventing them from being able to read and write. Children
with LD are often very motivated to read, are trying very hard,
and see that they cannot keep up with their peers who are
reading. It can be quite frustrating for them.

We are not in a Waldorf school. We attend public school and my
son was ''introduced'' to reading concepts in kindergarten. He was
not expected to read until 1st or 2nd grade. Beginning in first
grade, his teachers noticed how smart he was in other ways but
how much of a struggle the reading was for him and they suggested
he be evaluated for LD. He was evaluated in 2nd grade and
diagnosed with a learning disability that prevents him from being
able to retain the shapes of letters in his visual memory. It has
nothing to do with balance or overall coordination. It is not
related to occasionally playing video games or watching TV. These
are myths that most reputable pediatricians and learning
therapists dismiss as irrelevant to a serious reading problem.
anon

My daughter is in 1st grade and according to her teacher she
is ''behind'' in reading and math, but might catch up by the end
of the year. Today my daughter expressed for the first time that
it is very hard for her to see everyone else read or count to
100 and she is not able to do that. Aside from reading every
night I would like to help her in some other ''systematic'' way.
(We do a lot of games around words and numbers, but nothing real
systematic, where one game builds up on the next)Are there
reading or math programs that parents can do with their kids?
There are no previous posts on this question. I heard
about ''hooked on phonics''. Does anyone have experience with it?
I'd appreciate any advice very much.

My homeschooled daughter learned to read between 6-7 years old
using the book _Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons_.
It's only about $12 on half.com or you could use it from the
library. 15 minutes of snuggle time a day. It doesn't work for
every child, but the information in the first few chapters is
useful for any parent wondering about the path toward reading.
Stefani
Be patient!!! I'm a teacher, have taught all ages, and have
seen all kinds of things in children learning to read. First
grade is a hard year because kids develop skills at such
different rates--It's hard for the kids, like your daughter, who
see others accelerating and recognize their own lack of
progress. I taught 2nd and 3rd grade for many years and
often had students even at the beginning of 3rd grade who
struggled with reading...suddenly, sometimes mid-year or
even end of year, the kid just started reading fluently and
easily. Reading is so complex and for kids who learn in
other ways (not visually) it's harder!

What I think is soooo important for a 1st grader who is
getting discouraged is to keep her interest in reading and
her confidence up. I now teach older students and I see so
many who learned to read late, read at grade-level, but don't
like reading adn don't want to do it. I attribute this to their
early experiences with reading and their having felt 'stupid'
for so long when they were young.

There are several things I think you can do. First, I don't like
the phonics programs much--unless your daughter is
clearly having a problem with phonics. Check with her
teacher about that although it's a little hard to determine if
that's her problem reading in first grade.

You said you read every evening--GREAT! Keep doing that.
An enormous part of learning to read is listening to stories
and discussing them. Although she can't read the words on
her own, she CAN comprehend and respond to literature.
Talk about what you read, ask her to make predictions, ask
her to re-tell you the story, discuss characters, why they do
things, prompt her to ''connect'' with characters or situations.
Get books that are repetative--she'll memorize the story
quickly and can say the words with you, which gives her the
feeling of ''reading.'' Emphasize that reading is
UNDERSTANDING, not being able to just say the words.
She can develop many important comprehension skills until
the time she can actually read books alone. She'll be a
more advanced reader in the end. When you read to her,
model things such as running your finger along with words
fr! om left to right. Point out things like periods, and tell her
that they give you a clue to pause...

But more than anything, try to allow her to develop a love and
appreciation for reading. Talk about why reading is
important, why it's pleasurable. And don't let her catch on to
your anxiety about her skills. At the same time, it might be
useful to try to identify and strengthen any skills she
has--does she like to draw? Encourage that! Get her into
an extra art class, have her illustrate books, either ones she
writes or supplements to books she already likes. If she is
a physically active kid, encourage that. Or musical...This will
give her more confidence in general and the development of
many other skills is very connected to language/reading
development.

Unfortunately, our education system is really narrow and
limited--it is really hard on kids like your daughter who
probably don't have any real problem reading. The
pressures on young kids, first graders, is too much. Kids
learn at different rates and in different ways. but
teachers/schools don't emphasize this enough and it's hard
on kids.

There's tons to read if you want on reading--look at
Invitations and Strategies that Work. Hold off on the phonics
and worry though, at least for a couple years...
Good luck.
Elena

My six year old first grader is at the ''bottom'' of his class
with his reading skills and up to the ''norm'' in all other
subjects.
He and I do all the recommended things: we read daily about
things he is intested in, work in a phonics workbook and most
recently invested in the ''leapfrog computer'' system. We give him
praise and created a special reward chart. He is not grasping
reading at all - both the sounds and word recognition. I'm
permanently disabled so cannot afford programs like the Sylvan
learning center. If he doesn't make progress soon, it looks
like we will have to hold him back a grade based upon this alone.
I welcome any and all advice you have for a child who is
struggling with reading. I'm open and fairly flexible with my
time schedule.
Thanks in advance

A couple years ago my first grader moved schools mid-year and
was behind in what was considered the standard for her age at
the new school. She was assigned to the school reading
specialist who referred me to Orton-Gillingham phonics program.
I purchased their kit for parents (it was about $100) and I
worked with her through the summer...second grade was o.k....and
now in third grade she is at the top of her class. I honestly
don't know if this program helped her, or if she just suddenly
was ready to start reading. I'm not a teacher but it seems to me
that children are ready to read at very different ages...At the
same time, I don't think the ''whole language curriculum'' she had
been receiving was working for her and she needed a new
approach. Good luck! You can find information at www.orton-
gillingham.org
Patricia
I work with the lowest performing students in first grade as
a Reading Recovery teacher. I work to get the child up to the
middle of the class. I wonder if your school offers any
support. Reading aquisition is so intricate and most
children put the pieces together and build a system of
strategies in which they use to read. Some students, for a
multitude of reasons, don't put it together for themselves as
easily. These students need some help.

I understand your worry and concern. Your doing the right
thing by understanding that this is something that needs
attention. Your praise can only help. He needs to feel from
you that this is not the end of the world. Even though inside
it is really hard for you. Unless your child has a learning
disability, which more often is NOT the case, than just know
that soon he will put it together. He does need intervention
though. What kind? Retention is an option. But if it will
impact him socially it may build walls that restrict learning.
So retention is an option that needs to be weighed from
many different sides. The intervention of resources from
school, reading teachers, resource specialists, etc.
Summer reading programs (which during this budget crisis
are being cut).

You need to meet with the teacher and the principal and
yourself and have an SST (Student Success Team), this is
a formal meeting in which the concerns and interventions
are discussed. The teacher should have called for this
earlier in the year. But, it's not too late. Plans made for the
rest of this year as well as beginning of next year. Also
discuss what is offered over the summer.

I understand you don't have the money to pay for tutoring. I
have seen Sylvan and other programs really help my low
performing students (this from when I was a 2nd grade
teacher for many years). If there is any way you can beg or
borrow the money it could be just what he needs.
Continue to read with him at home. Have books at home
that he can easily access, one line per page with lots of
picture support. Make books with him about things he
knows. With very little unknown vocabulary and pictures
(from camera or homemade drawings) to support. Books
about mom, dad, cat, house, park, store. These will be his
books that he can read to you and feel successful. Slowly
you build his vocabulary. Learning sounds and expecting
him to just know sight words like, the, and, etc when there is
no context is too much. He needs to have what he learns
have meaning in his life. Books like: ''I go to the park'' -''I go
to the store'' and it's the store and park he knows can help
begin a vocabulary. Use what little he does know, no matter
how small it's just what he needs. Only give him a little bit
more at a time to learn. But most importantly, from home,
that reading is enjoyable and non-stressful. good luck
yancy

2nd & 3rd Grade

My son is in second grade in a small ''progressive'' private
school. He is not yet reading -- he has a few sight words
he can recognize, but has difficulty sounding words out,
and makes wild guesses based on the initial consonant in
the word and whatever clues he can glean from context
(e.g. guessing the word ''baby'' is ''birthday'' on a mylar
balloon). His teachers seem distressingly unconcerned
about this, and also don't seem to view it as their
problem -- their suggested ''solution'' during our parent-
teacher conference was for me to hire a reading tutor --
which I've done, but I can't really afford $300/month for
a tutor on top of his school's tuition.

I'm wondering what experiences parents of struggling
readers in public schools have had with support, or lack
thereof, from the school for their child's learning
difficulties? I have the impression that public schools
may actually do a better job, at least compared to our
particular private school, in helping struggling students
to catch up to grade level? I am seriously considering
switching to a public school next year -- we live in
Oakland, but I'm willing to move if necessary, so I'd be
interested in hearing about experiences with any East Bay
public schools -- especially in Albany, Berkeley or
Alameda. (BTW, I'm aware that I can have my son evaluated
by the public school district for learning disabilities
and possible IEP, and I'm working on making it happen).
Thanks in advance!

I have a daughter in the Oakland Unified School District and I am working on
my teaching credential.

The advantage of having a child in public school is all of the rights that you
as a parent have. They are numerous for you as the parent and for your child.
This list is not exhaustive:

1. You have the right to have your child evaluated by specialist and to have
that report integrated into your child's DAILY learning experience.

2. You have the right to call meetings with your child's teacher, the principal
and all experts that work with your child when you want, need or request
them.

3. Your child has the right to individual tutoring if found to have a reading
deficiency.

4. You have the right to review all of the assessments of your child's ability -
these are not tests, but assessments to find what your child knows and to
create a plan. Good teachers explain assessments well and make them non-
threatening to students.

5. You have the right to free summer school to assist your child so there is
not a 3 month learning gap.

Please know that you will find schools with overall high test scores and low
test scores. When deciding what school you want to aim for your child to
attend, sit in a few classes and see how the teachers treat learners of different
speeds - some children will learn the material for a school year in 3 months -
others need 11 months. Children are not robots and quick learning does not
make one child better than another - just different.

I wish you and your child a happy school experience. Personally, I feel the
vast majority of public schools do the same or better at educating children as
the vast majority of private schools. As a friend with a child in a large private
school in Oakland said - I know your child is getting a better education than
my child, but if I miss a school meeting or appointment, they track me down
to give me the information. You have to be responsible. You have harsh
florescent lights - we have a Starbucks atmosphere - for me, the gentleness
of the way they treat me as a parent, it's worth it.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

Hi-
We had the exact same experience, as have many other private school
families. Private schools simply do not have the resources to help children
who need something different from everyone else. Our very expensive
private school suggested we get an outside tutor, which we did, for
$85/hour. The teachers did not know how to help her, and our daughter
became more and more angry at her inability to read as the other children in
her class.

We transfered her to a public school--and not one in a fancy, upscale
neighborhood. Our public school is nothing fancy, and in a somewhat poor
neighborhood. Guess what? Her third grade teacher at the public school
moved her TWO GRADE LEVELS in one year! The school addressed her needs
from day one, offered extra support, testing, intervention, and a huge dose of
self esteem! Now in the seventh grade, the support has been on-going, from
teacher meetings, intervention, and so on.

Had I known, I would have moved our daughter to a public school in
kindergarten and saved her years of pain.
Pro-Public Schools!

I teach at a public elementary school in East Oakland. I taught 3rd grade for
most of my career, and did not receive any additional support in helping
struggling readers. Most of the teachers (myself included) just had the
struggling readers come in an hour before school to get extra help, and we
tried to work with them during ''workshop'' time.

For the past two years I have been working at the same school as a reading
intervention teacher. I work with struggling readers in small groups for 30
minutes every day (this is separate from the special education services that
the school provides.) Our school has chosen to fund my position, but it has
always been tight due to budget constraints, and there is no guarantee that
we will have funding for it next year. In addition, all staff at our school were
trained in a very useful protocol to use to help struggling readers. Our very
talented literacy coach has been instrumental in making this a priority in our
school and in providing support to all teachers so that those struggling
students get the help they need. We have, as a result, seen our reading
scores go up.

But ultimately it depends largely on the school. The quality of literacy
coaches, teachers, and principals varies tremendously from one school to the
next. And severe on-going budget woes mean that what a school offers may
change from one year to the next.

I hope this helps. Good luck in getting your child the help he needs.
T.

My son is a 2nd grader attending attending public school in
Moraga, and has been struggling with reading as well. The
phonics part is what has been a challenge for him - I think
he is more of a whole language reader, which is the way
that I learned as a child. He has no problem reading the
short chapter books that are designated as Level 2 (like
the Arthur books), but the longer chapter books (like the
Magic Treehouse ones) are a little more challenging for
him. When he gets to a word he doesn't know, instead of
trying to sound it out (the phonics piece), he'll just
throw out a wild guess like your son. But if I force him
to stop and try to sound out the word, he can often figure
it out. We met with his teacher & the principal. I was
very impressed with their perspective, as they were focused
on coming up with strategies to help him succeed. For
example, his class sometimes does reading of stories from a
textbook, and because he reads slower than many of the
other kids, they gave us a copy of the textbook to take
home, so that he could read the story in advance. When we
asked whether we should look into getting a reading tutor
or enrolling him in something like Kumon, their response
was No. They felt it was too early to go that route, as we
needed to figure out what the underlying problem, if any,
might be so that we could address the root of the problem.
His teacher also did not want to damage his confidence, or
to turn him off from school and learning, and told us that
if the weekly homework assignment was too much for him, we
could back off as much as we felt we needed too, which was
surprising to me. We chose not to do that, as I didn't
feel the homework was a problem for him (he has the
typical 'not wanting to do it' behavior, but he is
definitely capable of doing it). Our school also has a
Reading Tutor program - he gets 20 minutes of one on one
time with the tutor. Although he is pulled out of the
classroom to meet with his reading tutor, we have seen a
definite improvement in his reading through this program.
In summary, we have been very happy with the support that
our school has provided to us. Hope this helps...
Moraga Mom

My 1st grader is reading below grade level (bottom 3 in her class), she has
recently been tested and does not have a learning disability. She attends a
school that is routinely rated a 9 or 10 on GreatSchools.com. She is smart and
generally happy. We have always been very good about reading to her, with her,
and taking an interest in her schooling. I have been a SAHM since she was in K
and I have been very active in after school activities and classroom support,
which she appreciates. She has recently made some progress with a tutor that
she sees twice per week. The tutor feels she needs to build reading confidence
and practice. Please give us some constructive advice about how to help her
with reading. We found the tutor through other parents - but her school can't
seem to offer any advice -ugh!
anon

My son was in the exact same position at that age. During
the summer I had him read to me every day. He sat on my lap and
I'd give him a hug every time he managed to sound out a word
he was struggling over, and lots of verbal encouragement.
From second grade on, he was a top reader and always tested
way beyond grade level in the California standardized tests.
Francesca
Hi- been there. My advice would be to go to Lindamood Bell as soon as you can
to get their test. It should pinpoint exactly what is going on with your child's
reading. My daughter was the same way, and while Lindamood Bell is a
commitment not to be taken lightly- expensive and intensive, it does work and
your child will be a reader. No one reading program will work for all children, so
even though your school is good, their program isn't reaching your child.
Sometimes it's just a matter of getting a child's reading level compatible with
their interest. It's good that you're doing this now because waiting causes real
problems.
Best of Luck
Why don't you follow the tutor's advice? Have her practice
reading at home. Make sure she's not tired or hungry and has
a quiet place. The best things for her to practice with are
familiar texts. Ones she has read with her tutor or
classroom teacher. ask either professional if they can send
these already read books home in a bag, and you can return
them daily/weekly or whatever. If she struggles with a word,
tell her the word. (that's not necessarily what her teachers
would do, they would have her use some strategies to see if
she can figure out the word herself, but you're her parent,
you don't have to be like her teacher). Just 10 minutes a
day like this with you will hopefully boost her confidence
and fluency level. It's important to remember that lots of
kids struggle with reading and sometimes it just hasn't
''clicked'' yet. Don't be too hard on her or you. And why did
her teacher tell you she was in the bottom three? You didn't
need to know that.
2nd grade teacher and mother of a first-grader who also struggles
I, too, have a first grader who reads under grade level
and attends one of the best public schools in the East
Bay. Her teacher recommended summer school (although we
decided against it because of our already scheduled
plans). She has a tutor that comes to our house every
week to work with her for an hour and a reading specialist
once a week at school. She has made tremendous
improvement, specifically in the last few weeks. All of a
sudden it just clicked! I know that every child develops
at a different rate and when we were kids they didn't even
teach us to read until 2nd grade! They are pushing the
kids to learn things at a younger age than they are
ready. The best advice that I've had was to make sure you
have books with words he/she knows or has seen and
practice those books over and over-- like once a day for a
week. Also flash cards with th high frequency words have
helped us. There are ''high frequency word'' games online
for free too.
Good luck and stick with it!!!
There is a movie/ documentary that just came out and is
being shown around called A RACE TO NOWHERE about how our
kids are over pushed. Our principal had a viewing for our
teachers and it made quite an impact.
mom of struggling kid
I have a friend who is Danish. She told me that in
Denmark they don't start formally teaching reading until
children are nine years old because studies show that is
when kids are all ready to read. She said kids pick up a
lot before hand but when school starts teaching reading in
about third or fourth grade the kids pick it up in a few
weeks.

Maybe your daughter is just one of those kids who isn't
going to really ''get'' reading until she's a bit older. Is
there a way to work with your school to give her time to
grow?

Sounds to me like you are doing all the right things.
Maybe the system doesn't match your child.
another mom

Give her time and love! If it's not already, make reading a
part of your nightly routine--maybe you read most and she
reads a few sentences here and there at first, then a while
down the road, you can alternate pages. Make sure reading is
first and foremost seen as a rewarding, fun activity, not
something she's forced to do.

It's ridiculous that we expect all kids to read fluently as
first-graders. A really developmentally-based program (which
most US schools lack) would realize that many great adult
readers required years of exposure and practice before they
were ready to read on their own.
A teacher

I think you should let her be. She will take off with her
reading when she is ready. I know of a homeschooled kid who
was a poor reader, but his parents never pressured him to
read. Finally, around age 8, he became interested in
something and the only way he was able to learn more about
it was to read. His reading took off! He was reading
college-level material by age 12. I cannot imagine what all
this pressure to be a good reader must be doing to your
daughter. She is so young!! When I read posts like this, I
am glad to be homeschooling my daughter. She will blossom at
her own pace without the labels that schools give to kids.
Nicole
My son is in the exact same situation except that the bottom 3 in his class are
at grade level but still below the others. His school provides daily reading help
with a reading specialist for 30 min a day. (If this isn't available thru the school
system I can imagine it would be expensive!) This has REALLY helped but this
month was the first time he has EVER wanted to try to read a book on his own
without us forcing it. The magic book was ''The Cat on the Mat is Flat'' and the
next one he wants by the same author is ''The Big Fat Cow That Went Kapow''. I
can't tell you how much reading this book has given him self confidence and the
realization that he can enjoy reading! (Oh and we said it was a present from
Grandma so that it wasn't from us, who are always pushing the reading.)

I think the extra help is essential, but I can't tell you how many times I have
heard ''Oh my kid was the same way and then one day it just clicked and now
he's a great reader.'' I'm starting to think some of that is true. Don't know if
this
has helped.
Gwen

WHAO!!! 1st grade? The first thing I'd do is get rid of
the tutor. Did the teacher tell you to get a tutor? I'd
change teachers!!! Come on....She's in 1st grade!!!
Kids develop at such different rates for years that you
really can't test or tell what their abilities are at that
grade level unless they are severely deficient.

Relax and let her be a kid. Encourage her to read, don't
pressure her, read to her a lot. Turn off the TV.

I hope you get a lot of similar responses from teachers
and other people in the know.
mom of child w/ learning differences.

My advice is to try not to worry too much. I know it is
easier said than done, but first grade is awfully young to
be ''behind.'' If you check the CA Dept. of Ed. website,
you can find the reading standards for first grade.
Perhaps she actually meets them, and the school is just
pushing for a little more. Anyway, kids develop different
skills at different times. They are not all on the same
schedule. Keep paying attention and doing all the
wonderful things that you are doing, and see how she's
doing in a year.
Elem. Teacher and Mom
I was having the same problem. I did three things.

1. I upped the amount I read to my son- I would read all
kinds of books at any time to him and this helped him
tremendously! He wanted me to point to the words.

2. I bought the Leapfrog Tag system The tag system lets him
play with the words and hear them read to him and then he
slowly weaned himself off the tag for the easy books.In
fact, he would read me the story because he knew the words
after a while so it built his confidence and reading
ability. They have fun phonics games and rewards at the end
of each book.

3. I had him read to me..super easy books well below his
reading level ( which was low) so he could build his
confidence.

After a few months, this seemed to help him gain more
confidence and read better.
Good lUck.
been there and its getting better

I know how concerning this can be, but my main advice
would be to stop worrying. Reading below grade level in
first grade is not necessarily an indication of any
problem, as development is especially differential at this
age. My 2nd grader was below grade level in reading in 1st
grade and is now doing great, and time was the main thing
that helped her. The other thing that helped her was
confidence. She was extremely self-conscious about her
ability in first grade and therefore reluctant to try. Her
teacher was great about encouraging her and reminding her
that she was doing well (she was making *progress*).

Have you ruled out learning disabilities? Dyslexia etc? If
not, do so for your piece of mind. I hear the Linda Mood
Bell reading clinics are very successful at working with
children who have specific learning disabilities that make
reading difficult. If you have ruled this out or don't see
any real indicators of this kind of problem, stop worry
and have faith that your child will get there, that you
have given him/her good exposure to books and reading. And
maybe dump the tutor if that seems to be putting pressure
on the child.

And finally, try to keep perspective. Being in the ''bottom
3'' in reading in first grade is no indication of a
lifetime of failure and misery.
Chin up,
Reading parent

Dear anon;
It has been my experience that public schools listed highly
(9 or greater out of 10) in the greatschools.com index are
limited in the ability to assist a child with learning
differences.

My son was having troubles in Kindergarten at such a school.
Their advice to me was personal, i.e. I had not properly
parented him. I discovered that he was dealing with ADHD
and had the beginning of language based learning issue. By
second grade he was really struggling. My son had tutoring
at the school for reading in the second grade. I had put
him in Kumon for kindergarten and first grade.

In third grade, the school testing indicated that he did not
have a reading issue, testing at 75% relative to his school
age. However, the same test given by a Neuropsychologist
three months later showed a reading ability at the 9%. (The
test given at the school could not have been properly done.
They are not trained to listen for substitutions,
incomplete words, and unclear pronunciation. These kids
have figured out that they are not like the others and have
learned to cover it up.) I realize now that the
greatschools.com schools teach to the mean. My son is very
gifted in problem solving but very poor in reading and
organizational skills. The school was terribly inadequate
at knowing his needs and they are ill-equipped to help.

It has been my great blessing to find a person, educational
therapist, who has taught my son to read using multiple
methods, not one fits all (Amy Draizen). I also highly
recommend that you look into an appropriate tester (I hired
Dr. Cynthia Peterson), outside the school, before third
grade. The best possible combination of these two supports
is at Raskob School in Oakland, CA. It can be attended just
for the tests and tutoring, or after third grade they have a
full day school.

The results for my son (now in fourth grade) are that within
a year, he truly knows how to read. But most importantly, he
really loves to read. He may not be at grade level but he
reads on his own initiative and that delights me.
Deb

Our 2nd grader was reading below grade level at 1st grade
and is still a little behind now. After she was diagnosed as
being dyslexic, we had her work with a tutor over the summer
and she works once a week with a reading specialist at her
school. She is a very bright child, good in math and verbal
skills. My feeling is that she is developing her reading
skills at a different rate than what ''they'' expect. Her
teachers have told us that she will eventually catch up. We
have her read to us and pick books that she enjoys and
subjects that she is interested in. (I have learned to
tolerate Scooby Doo)We also encourage her to read the world
around her such as signs in stores, on the road, etc.
Mother of 8 yr. old
I still remember this like it was yesterday. When I was in
the first grade, my mom handed me some simple thing to
read like ''I rode my bicycle.'' I couldn't sound
out ''bicycle'' because the school was using whole language
or word recognition. She took charge, and needless to say
I attended USF on a 4 year academic scholarship and became
a college instructor. School wasn't so great when I was a
kid and it's far worse now. From teaching methods, to
bullying, to disruptions in the clasroom, to lack of
personal attention, kids can't read or do math and even
the tests are dumbed down. One thing I see is that the
reading material is too easy, boring or too visual. Kids
like The Boxcar Children, Thorton Burgess's Buster Bear,
Ol' Granny Fox, etc., or Children's Highlights. I home
school my son who reads the Wall Street Journal. More at
http://coachroland.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-child-will-not-
do-her-homework.html
Roland T.
Hi,
I was in the same boat as you, except my child has mild
dyslexia, which made it difficult for her to sound out words
and read the short words (no, was, etc). I took a workshop
by Angela Norton Tyler called _Tutor Your Child to Reading
Success_. She has a book out by the same name. You can find
it on Amazon. Her book will help you assess your child in
three areas: phonics, site words, and fluency and then has
you play games with your child to teach the **specific**
sounds and site words that your child does not know. These
games include: word wheels, tic tac toe, hide and seek, and
picture boxes. I went online and found even more games that
my kids love, including mazes, go fish, change, and board
games.
Check out:
- starfall.com (best online games)
- www.adrianbruce.com (best game ideas)
- www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/literacy.shtml
- school.discoveryeducation.com (great puzzle maker)

MOST IMPORTANT: Go out with your child to a cafe 1-2x per
week. Get her a donut or hot chocolate and do your tutoring
games there. Don't tell her it's ''tutoring,'' tell her you
want to play games with her.

In addition: have your child watch Electric Company (channel
9 at 5:00) and Read between the Lions. Shows are also
available at the library or buy DVDs online.

Finally, keep up daily story time and visits to the library,
but don't pressure the child to read. I did this with my
first and inadvertently set her back.
Tutored My Kids

I just wanted to add a further note about Angela Norton
Tyler's book _Tutor Your Child to Reading Success_. Like
you, I did not get any helpful advice from teachers. They
all gave the same advice of: ''read to your child.'' When
you've been doing that since the child was a baby, this
advice is next to useless, especially if they also classify
your child as being in the ''bottom 3'' or whatever.
_Tutor Your Child to Reading Success_ was the first resource
I had that taught me *exactly* what my child needed help
with in terms of reading. For instance, instead of hearing,
''Your child is below grade level,'' you will find out that
your child can correctly sound out short a, e, and i, but is
having trouble with short o and u. Then you target learning
those exact sounds with fun games. Same thing with site
words (words that cannot be sounded out): you learn that
your child can read school, where, and when, but needs to
learn called, which, and friend. After I began this program
late in first grade, my daughter jumped a reading level in
2-3 months.

Finally, you must continue to provide your child with rich
life and learning experiences (trips to museums, the zoo, to
the mountains, other places etc.) and limit TV -- as
ultimately, an enriched life bolsters reading comprehension.
I'm not 100% sure, but of the 10 factors that educators
outline for fluent readers only 3 concern actual reading
(phonics, site words, and fluency). The other factors
involve rich life experiences -- which likely accounts for
the achievement gap between rich and poor. Your child will
be a reader! Best wishes.
Tutored My Kids

Hello,
A series of books that I had my first grader read are the
Nora Gaydos, ''Now I'm Reading'' series. Get the pre-reader
books as well as they have all the color and number words in
them. Each ''book'' is really a set of 10 books & a parent
guide. These books are short and targeted to teach the words
and sounds that first graders are learning. As incentives,
the books have stickers and coloring games. Strange, but
having your child color in a section of a triangle does seem
to motivate them. They get a sense of accomplishment when
they've read the book 4 times and have colored in the whole
shape. At the end of each book there are questions and other
activities.

Nora Gaydos also has a new series, ''Read it, Write it, Draw
it,'' which are wonderful in that your child interacts with
the story 3 different ways - reading, writing, and drawing
and adding stickers. Repeating a story over and over is
*really* great for early readers as they learn through
(exhaustive) repetition. We read several stories 3x each
night for *many* nights.

Another good series for helping 1st grade readers is the Bob
Books. These are fun, but our school already used them, so
I went with the Nora Gaydos books, which I actually thought
were funner.

A previous poster said some school books had ''too many
pictures.'' Note that pictures provide clues to the story and
actually aid reading, especially for beginning readers. So
do not shy away from books with pictures or block the
pictures!

Finally help your child, but don't panic or push her. (Yes,
I know, easier said than done in this climate of
over-testing and punishing schools that don't *test* well.)
Your daughter *will* read!
Love reading, hate the foolishness of NCLB

Dear Parent of the 1st grader with trouble reading. I just read all the
responses and had to write. I have two kids with dyslexia, and I have
dyslexia. Dyslexia is a general term for difficulty learning to read, and
research shows that 20% of all people have it. Reliable research based
information can be found here: http://dyslexia.yale.edu/index.html (from
Dr. Sally Shaywitz, Yale University). You can check out her list of *preschool*
indicators of dyslexia. Quote from her website: ''Most people assume that
part of being smart is being able to read well. About 100 years ago, though,
doctors figured out that some people, even some very smart people who do
really well at many other things, have trouble learning to read. This difficulty
with reading is called dyslexia.'' Yes, we may start our kids reading too
early, but most kids do fine and if your child has difficulty reading relative to
her peers, she needs to be tested again by a quailified professional like a
neuropsyhcologist, or at a place like LindaMood Bell in Berkeley. I followed
the advice of all those teachers who said he may grow out of it, after all, my
son is very very smart they all said. He repeated kindergarten and by second
grade, he felt so bad about himself because he could not read as well as his
peer that I had to move him to a different school. I had waited too long. Over
the next two years, we got reliable testing (I do NOT trust the public schools
to do good testing) LindaMood Bell, and an educational therapist. My son at
12 now reads better than me (seriously!). When my second son started
showing the same signs, I had him tested and got help way earlier, and he
did not need to go through the self esteem crash. Heres the bottom line:
Educate yourself on research based information about dsylexia. If you
daughter is one of the bottom 3 readers of the class (and if she is a poor
speller)- she probably has dyslexia, or at least needs more help. I suggest
getting her not just a tutor, but an Ed therapist or LindaMoodBell- someone
with research based knowledge and techniques. The good news is that she
will be totally fine! I have dsylexia and am a poor reader. I also have a PhD
in molecular Biology. Don't let the teachers be the final word- find out for
yourself. You can contact me if you want!
Lisa
I missed your original posting so am not sure if you said
which school district you are in. My son has dyslexia, and
(believe it or not) has received great services through
Oakland Unified School district. The school district has a
Lindamood Bell reading clinic which provides very intensive
services for kids who qualify. It might be helpful to start
advocating for a special ed assessment if you haven't already.
Good Luck!
Last summer we enrolled our child in CA State University
East Bay's summer reading program which has classes to
prepare children for the grade they will enter in the fall.
The classes, which cost $299, consist of a 3 hour course
taught 1 day a week (including Saturday options) for 5
weeks. The parent and child attend the class together. The
goals are to develop reading skills, foster a love of
reading, and teach parents how to help their kids.

My son and I attended the class for children entering 1st
grade. We took the class in the beginning of the summer and
used its techniques throughout the summer. The course
served us well for he'd made a huge leap by the time 1st
grade started. It gave us a structure for reading together
that bolstered his confidence and enabled me to assist him
without frustration and power struggles. It taught us
techniques that enabled him to take a break from reading
without putting down the book. It also taught me to judge
which type of childrens book is a good reader. There are
lots of mediocre beginner books that don't meet this
criteria, and there are many great books that are best for
parents to read to their child.
Berkeley parent

I know of a learning specialist who can help with reading
issues. She was the director at Lindamood Bell for 10 years
and is now an OUSD teacher. She sees some private clients
over the summer. Her name is Angela Parker. You can reach
her at 510 530 9571. She connects really well with my
children, and they enjoy time with her.
glad my kids are learning

While reading to my son at bedtime last night I asked him to
read a few sentences and he said, ''No, I'm a sucky reader.''
This broke my heart. When I probed if someone had told him he
was he said no, immediately wanted to drop it, and have me
continue on. It is clear he is struggling with his confidence
in reading. His 2nd grade teacher has told us he is at grade
level which is great, but his confidence is lacking. Are there
any tips and/or advice as to how to build my son's confidence
with his reading abilities? He can read, but is reluctant to do
so. Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

The same thing was happening with my son last year. He was at (barely) grade
level,
but didn't feel confident. He WAS struggling more than other kids in his
class. And he
knew it. And I felt like his losing confidence was a big warning sign and was
affecting
his love of learning. Also the other kids in higher reading groups could be
mean. And
his public school does not provide help for kids at grade level (only kids
below) and
then its non-credentialed volunteers. We hired a fantastic credentialed
reading
specialist to read with him and help him once a week. She was able assess him
and
identify very specifically what he was struggling with and how to help him.
(many kids
need to learn to speed up their reading, mine needed to slow down!). She was
able to
give him the attention and help that the school (and we, his parents) could
not. She
also worked with him over the summer, which was great for him to start school
this
year feeling strong. It was the best money we ever spent. He is now much more
confident in his reading. I don't have a specific recommendation for you b/c
our
teacher is not taking new clients, but there are a lot of recommendations on
BPN. Be
proactive about this!
anon
I just had this happen with my daughter. She really lost a lot
of fluency over the summer, appearing to read chapter books on
her own, but I think the books were too hard and she lost
confidence.
We started re-reading much easier books, below her grade level,
with great pictures and just a few words on each page. She reads
one side of the page and I read the other.
In just about two weeks her confidence and fluency has improved
a lot, and she likes to read again, but still just the easy
books. So the next challenge will be slowly getting back to
grade level books, but some of that will happen at school.
-- reading mom
When I was taking care of a boy who had similar confidence
problems in math, I started to ''help'' him with his homework. I
made several mistakes, which he quickly corrected. It did
become clear to him after a little while that I was doing it on
purpose, but we laughed about it and I was able to make the
point to him, ''see, you do know how to do this stuff.''
kind of a trick, but worked for me

We read quite a bit with our child, but are looking for some other
ways to help him get reading in a way that he thinks of as fun. Does
anyone out there have any experience with videos, online games, or
handheld game devices (leapster or digi learner) that actually would
help a 2nd grade boy improve reading or math skills? Is there any
computer program or game or toy that has really helped your child
read/learn phonics/spell and that they actually enjoyed doing?
Anything you could suggest to combine playing with actually learning
for a 2nd grade boy? If you bought your child any of the leap frog
handheld devices, did your child like them and actually use them? Or
did they just play them once and then never touch them again. If they
liked them, what ''games'' did they like? I don't want to spend money
on these things if they are not useful. Any advice is appreciated.
anon

I don't know how much success you'll have with getting a kid to
read while you're not there, if that's the point of the handheld
games. For a second-grader it definitely helps for you to be
involved. My son was a reluctant reader but a keen movie
watcher, so we rented videotapes with subtitles and gave him the
controller so he could pause as often as he needed to read what
they were saying. Many DVDs and computer games now have the
option of adding subtitles and changing the language so you'll
have lots more choice than we did. Again, you have to be there to
make sure he doesn't change it back when you're not looking.
Other (very cheap) suggestions: ransack the library for other
sorts of books he likes - it turned out my son liked recipes and
home science experiments better than stories. Put him in charge
of knowing what to do next in the kitchen - by reading. Make it
fun - play clapping games and try to do basic math facts while
you catch the ball, jump into hoops etc.
fiona
My son has the leapster and the tag system. I'm not against the
games but as for helping him learn to read, I'm not so sure. I
would never spend money on these thinking they were anything more
than games. If he is having trouble reading, look into
educational therapy or some other type of program but relying on
''educational games'' alone will not help. I would, however,
recommend the Bob series of books. They are these books that
start out very simple rhymes like ''Mat sat.'' My son is really
progressing with those. And they are much cheaper than games.
Frankly, sesame street and the electric company are probably
better than video games. One thing, my son does like to play the
game in Leapster that comes with the device, Rabbit River and
that one is probably the closest to helping him read than
anything else. But, not worth paying all that money for it when
there are other options. One thing I will say is do not get the
Tag system. It does not teach them to read at all.
anon

Our seven year old is finishing second grade and has made very little
progress learning to read this year. She is still decoding three letter
words. She says that she ''hates'' reading, and is starting to dislike
school. She was assessed by the school district (speech/language
assessment), and they found she had very high verbal skills (98%), but very
low Rapid Automatic Naming skills (kindergarten level). The school is
respectful towards her, but they do not seem to know how to help her. She
scored ''too high'' for special services.

My questions are:
Do we have her assessed again (and if so, for what)?
Do we do a neuropsych exam? With whom? Where? Is there funding for this?
What kind of tutoring do we seek for her, and where? The school says that
she needs a ''reading specialist,'' and not a ''tutor.'' We cannot afford this.
Any and all advice/comments/direction welcome!
WCCUSD Mom

I could have written your post earlier this year. What you want is an
educational therapist, or otherwise known as reading specialist. Yes, you will
have to pay for this out of your pocket. No my family couldn't afford it either, but
we sucked it up, lived on the extreme cheap to pay for it and it has been worth
every penny. My daughter has made such extreme progress, and we could actually
probably stop now, but I want to make sure it sticks and she doesn't regress. She
was reading 17 words per minute in October, and last timed she was at 70words per
minute last month by her teacher. She still slowly decodes long words, but I have
noticed a difference even this week in the long words comming easier to her. She
is so much more confident about reading and school now. Of course I don't know
what your daughters learning issues are, but chances are if you catch it at this point
it is going to be easier than down the line with all the emotional issues that can
come with it. The other advice I have is (I've heard anyway) that if you hire a
professional advocate for your IEP they will help you to
''persuade'' the district to pay for your child's remediation. (I assume that they know
the state laws and hold the school accountable to them-but that is just a guess.) I
don't know if they already gave you an assessment if they will give you another so
soon, or what a professional advocate would cost.

I can't stress enough how much this has made a difference in my daughters reading
and general happiness now. It seems like it is very stressful for them. Make sure
you let your daughter know she is smart,

Our Ed Therapist comes to our house. Others work from their own office space.
(Educational Therapist sounds like a shrink, but they are really reading/writing/
math specialists.) Best of luck to you. I hope this helps.

I have two friends with children (both boys) who have the same
reading problem. One is a highly intelligent child, the other is
just average, but both had the problem solved the same way, by
the same group.

It may be a ''tracking'' problem. Both families used UC Berkeley
School of Optometry. The solution was not cheap, about $1,000
and four to six weeks of once per week appointments with
homework each night. It worked!!! Tracking has something to do
with the way your eyes follow the words across the page without
losing your place. And, just like the average person can figure
out a word, even if spelled wrong by the context tracking
assists with ''moving through'' the words.

The average boy moved 1 1/2 years in one school year in his
reading fluency and speed. The next year did another 1 1/2 year
advancement and is now completely at grade level before the end
of the year.

The highly verbal boy was able to catch up 2 grade levels this
year with his reading.

The advantage to both boys was a renewed interest in school and
learning, less clowning around and more confidence.

Hi. I suspect that my second grade son has a learning problem
related only to reading, spelling and writing. He is quite able
to master math and abstract topics, however he has trouble
reading more than one or two sentences at a time because it is so
arduous for him and he gets frustrated and gives up. He says
he's stupid because he can't spell and write like the other kids.
He does fine on his spelling tests because we practice the words
for the test a lot, however if he has to spell them in a
sentence, it's like he's never seen the word before if the word
does not happen to be spelled phonetically. His teacher and
principle believe it's just a matter of time and practice until
reading and spelling will click for him, but I am skeptical since
reading requires specific decoding and visual memory skills, and
this is his only area of defecit. Have looked in the archives
for testing options, but didn't really find anything. We have
decided to forgo the BUSD testing he would be eligible for if we
requested it. Any thoughts or experience with any of this?
Concerned

I'd really, really encourage you to contact Bill Baldyga. He's
an educational therapist with a pragmatic, effective approach who
is very conscious of the challenges to a child's self-esteem when
these problems crop up. He's helped my daughter tremendously.
His website is http://www.halcyonlearning.com, and his phone is
415.216.8493. He's newly relocated to the East Bay.
Good luck!
Anononymous
Hi
My son was a very late reader. He was as frustrated as you
describe. He was fine in any other area but just could not get
the reading part down. All of a sudden, at the end of 3rd
grade, it clicked and boy did he advance quickly. In 4th grade
he was reading at 6th/7th grade level. His reading is now very
advanced so in the end, his brain just needed to catch up. I
myself did not start reading until I was 9 (I grew up in Europe
where it was not a big deal). It sounds like the teachers are
not worried, so I would not worry either if I was you.
JSE
He may have a problem with eye-tracking. The brain can be re-
trained to process information that is taken in through the
eyes moving around a page (or along a line). My son was tested
at UC Berkeley's Binocular Vision Clinic in Minor Hall (near
the new Business School). They have graduate students doing
the testing supervised by a brilliant doctor (Dr. Hoenig). The
evaluation was a few hundred dollars, and then we bought
software (computer ''games'') and a binder of exercises. Several
months doing these not as often or as long as they suggested,
and my son's eye-tracking was much improved. 510-642-2020
Eye-tracking mom
Don't forgo the BUSD evaluation. No matter what an outside
evaluator says, they are going to have to do testing before your
son gets any services and the process takes a long time so put
the request in writing, keep a copy for yourself and get the
ball rolling in that area. In the meantime you can have your son
tested independently at a place like Raskob Institute or Anne
Martin center. If your son is feeling stupid and you think
there is a problem why wait? The school will always prefer NOT
to do anything. There is no harm in doing testing and finding
out that everything is OK. The benefts of pinpointing a problem
earlier rather than later are numerous--including your son's
self-esteem.
best wishes
I'm a second grade teacher and each year one or 2 students who
are brilliant begin the year with reading difficulties. Often,
it turns out to be developmental, and by the middle or end of
the year everyything starts to pop and they figure it out. It's
really hard to see them in the interim struggling. Try easy
readers like Dr. Seuss and read and reread them. As far as
spelling goes, your son's problem is the angst of second grade
teachers-many students memorize the spelling words for tests,
but consistently fail to write the words correctly when they
write. I'm firmly convinced this is also developmental.
For the moment, I'd probably hang in there. See what happens if
you and your son keep reading familiar texts. Good luck...
Reading Soon
You definitely want to look into getting testing (Ann Martin
Center in Oakland) for your son as well as hiring a tutor. Raskob
Day School in Oakland offers after school tutoring. You can also
go to the Association of Educational Therapists
(www.aetonline.com) to find an educational therapist closer to
where you live. Taking a proactive approach will not only help
your son in improving his skills, but also his self-esteem. The
longer you wait for tutoring, the longer it takes to remediate
the learning issue. Also check out Mel Levine's website
www.allkindsofminds.org and interdys.org.
anon

I'm looking for someone to help my child to learn
to read. My daughter is in 2nd grade and her reading
is not up to grade level and she is falling behind in
class. Her teacher is already talking about
repeating 2nd grade, and I don't want to resort to that. Her teacher doesn't have
many ideas about ways to help her beyond what she is doing in the
classroom. She also keeps telling me to read to her, but I
have always read to her a great deal and continue to do
so. I'm not exactly sure what her learning issues are,
as she can almost sound out the words. I'm worried
about her self esteem. I had similar issues in the
early elementry school, and it took a long time before
felt confident about my abilities. I really don't want my child to go through the
same thing as I did. Does anyone know who does this kind of thing? I'm pretty
sure I'm looking for more than a tutor, but someone more experienced in different
kind of learners or possible learning disabilities.
Thanks
Looking for help

If your child is having difficulty reading in school and your teacher has
addressed this issue with you than you need more help if the only advice you are
getting is to read more. You should explore if there are other reasons behind the
slow reading? Is your child not intersted, is she struggling in any other
academic subjects, is she having a difficult time decoding words, etc. Ask your
school district to assess her for a possible learning disability. Put it in
writing as they have 15 days to respond to your request. Some kids will often be
placed in a reading lab or get resource support at school and even qualify for
summer school. I know that it is hard but in the long run it is worth it. Try to
access services through the district, especially if they identify that it is an
issue.
Good luck
anonymous
Your post really struck a chord with me; I wish I had not waited so long to get
help outside of the school system. It took me a long time to realize that the
school either doesn't know how to help my son, or they don't want to admit he has
a learning disability because then they are legally bound to pay to help him. My
10 year old son also has had problems in school, largely surrounding reading,
which seemed to evolve into social/behavioral problems. I'm feeling much more
hopeful these days, as we have found a great educational therapist who has us
moving in the right direction, and my son has only been seeing him for a few
months now. I can't express how relieved I am about the progress my son has made.
His name is Bill Baldyga and his contact information is 415-216-8493 website is
halcyonlearning.com. He relocated from Santa Cruz recently, and a friend referred
him to me. I'd sign my name, but we're wanting to be low key about his struggles
in our small school community, so sign me.
.a happier mom with a happier son
The Association for Educational Therapists lists members who are highly qualified
to help your child learn to read. The website is www.aetonline.org and can
explain what ET's know and do.
Though I don't work in this particular area, many of my colleagues here in
Berkeley and Oakland are very experienced with remediation of dyslexia.
Linda

4th Grade

Our 9 year old fraternal twin girls are very different in many ways. One of
them reads at an advanced level, while the other one is struggling with
reading and falling behind. They are in 4th grade, but she is still having
trouble recognizing simple words that she has seen and heard many times.
Three years ago she went through the public school's individual evaluation
process. They determined her reading skills were developing slowly, but that
she did not need special attention. Now we believe she DOES need some help,
and we are wondering where to turn. We expect to have to find help on our
own, and to pay for it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Write a letter asking for your child to be re-tested. Even
if they don't qualify for help from the district, you'll be
able to use the testing with a tutor and save some time.
Call DREDF 644-2555 and ask to talk to a parent advocate to
get help on how to do this.
anon
lots of kids have learning disabilities diagnosed by school
districts in 4th grade (cause that's when reading demands
get so much tougher). so even though you got nowhere with
school district before, try them again before you go it alone.
best wishes
Get your daughter to do an eye exam, just to rule out any
vision issues.
Our son is 8.5 and has never taken to reading. He loves a
good story, loves to hear me read to him, is making
interesting comments and predictions on the text,
participates in class, etc. but he won't ever elect to read
on his own. His 3rd grade teacher noticed his eyes dart back
and forth on the page, so she suspected an underlying eye
problem. She sent us to Dr. Gina Day at Larkspur Landing
Optometry, who specializes in child-related eye problems and
is extremely patient with kids.
http://www.larkspurlandingoptometry.com/
Dr. Day diagnosed far-sightedness, meaning his eyes strain
when he does anything at close range (reading, homework,
etc.) So he naturally looks away to relax his eyes, which
makes him lose his place on the page, his focus, etc. He is
now wearing glasses, and the prescription isn't strong
(+0.5) but it helps the eyes relax while he's doing close
range work.

Dr. Day also found out that he reads much slower than what
you'd expect at his age, probably because he never read a
lot in the past. That basically means he isn't reading
quickly enough for the story to grab his attention. Dr. Day
set him up with a piece of software that helps train his
eyes and brain to process data quicker. We can see some
progress already but no giant breakthrough yet (only been
doing this for 2 weeks now!)

It is time for the school to retest her. Usually schools
are willing to retest after two years. You might inquire
whether she could have processing problems which would
require testing by the school's speech pathologist as well
as the school's resource teacher, and school psychologist.
Don't delay.
a teacher
First of all, you are a good mom for figuring this out. Second, run run run to
Lindamood Bell. It is expensive, intensive and I will make no apology for that- it
WORKS. And it works in a relatively short amount of time, considering. My
daughter wasn't reading a lick by the end of first grade when we looked into
their program. I will forever be grateful to LB for showing my daughter the way
to read. She worked really hard, four hours a day, and the minute words began
to make sense the smile on her face was from ear to ear. She was proud. You
must be fully committed however; children who are pulled out early tend to have
a harder time keeping their reading skills concrete.
anon

Hi,
My forth grade daughter has been diagnosed with a
mild ''phonemic weakness'' ( I understand this to be a dyslexia
type problem). She reads by memorizing words, but struggles
with longer words and guesses, rather than sounds them out.

I have been told that a tudor who uses the Wilson method is
best for this problem, but have been unable to find any in our
area. Any ideas? She'll do best with someone who is VERY
relational, and can make this fun.

Also, I have heard that the Lindamood-Bell program might be
helpful. But since my daughter is a very reluctant participant
in anything having to do with reading, I am concerned about the
time intensiveness of a program like this.

I'd love any suggestions. We are a family of avid readers, and
she feels sensitive about being different from us about this
issue.
a concerned mom

You didn't state what kind of school your daughter is in. If she
is in public school and they have found that she has a phonemic
awareness deficit, then they should provide appropriate
intervention for that. If she is in private school, then yes, you
need to find a tutor. Phonemic awareness is the ability to
discriminate the individual sounds in words. Lack of phonemic
awareness affects the ability to sound words out and blend sounds
together- and so this affects reading and spelling. The best time
to address phonemic awareness is pre-K, K and grade 1, before
reading problems develop. Since your daughter is in 4th grade,
I recommend that you move on this quickly and intensively. The
good news is that with the proper intervention, phonemic
awareness can be remediated. However, I imagine that along with
phonemic awareness work your daughter will need some intensive
phonics work to solidify the sound/symbol relationship.

There are several good programs that address p.a. I am not
familiar with Wilson, but Lindamood-Bell is definitely one of the
best. (see the reviews of Lindamood-Bell
for the rest of this recommendation.)
Lauren

My 4th grader needs help in reading and I was hoping someone could
recommend a reading tutor. The majority of his problem lies in sounding out
words and trying words that he has never read before. Because of this, his
reading tends to be slow and jumpy. We have him reading several hours a
week at home and work with him on a consistent basis but I think someone
outside the family could add to our effort.

When my son was in the third grade, he was diagnosed with learning
disabilites, primarily in visual perception and visual
processing (affected his reading and writing) and kinesthetics (affected
his writing only). His reading was much like the
way you describe your son's reading. An early reader (sight words by the
age of 3) he basically stopped reading in the
third grade because it became too difficult as the books became harder. The
poor little guy was struggling and it started
to affect his self-esteem. After he was tested, we found out that he was
reading at a first grade level, and were able to
take appropriate action.

First, the learning specialist at Marin School (loved the specialist at
Marin School in Albany, but not at Albany Middle
School, and love the Specialist at Bret Harte Middle School in Oakland)
made sure that he understood that kids learn
differently and that he is not "stupid," as he took to calling
himself. Second, we developed an IEP that included a reading group. We
made sure he didn't feel stigmatized by being associated with "special ed."
(By the way, he was pulled out of the classroom for handwriting)

Third, four other moms and I contacted several fraternities and had them
tutor our kids as part of their community service.
Win-win for all of us!

I'm not presuming that your son has an LD, but if you haven't had him
tested, you might want to consider, because there
are so many resources available to you and your family.
By the way, my son is now in the seventh grade and his reading speed is at
grade level and his comprehension is at
college level. In fact, he just finished reading Origin of Species--his own
choice!

I have a 12 year old son in Middle school with lots of reading
comprehension problems. In earlier grades he refused to read and
always seeked help fromus with social studies and reading
homework. Now, in 7th grade he often does not understand simple
words and having lots of problems in literature, history and
sometimes science reading. The more we help the more he doesn't
learn. He attends a Montesoori school and the teachers think
everything is fine because he is average. But we see some
serious problems in high school if he doesn't pick up his
comprehension. Can someone tell me what I can do to help. We
have tried private tutors and Lind mood Bell. He does not have a
learning disability. He just has some mental block about
reading. Please help,
worried mom

Have you had his vision checked? It's the first issue to assess. If he has to work
hard to see or focus on the letters he will avoid reading and/or he will have less
mental energy available for comprehension. The UC Binocular Vision clinic does a
functional vision analysis - what happens to the eyes while they are trying to work
together. A ''normal'' vision screening doesn't include this. You are right to be
concerned about this now. Poor or reluctant readers' disadvantages grow over time,
they don't get better.
Linda
I am a school psychologist in a middle school where my primary
role is to evaluate children for learning disabilities. From
your description, it sounds like your son may have a mild
language-based learning disability that manifests in these
reading comprehension problems. Has he been evaluated to
determine if he has any specific processing weaknesses (e.g.,
memory, attention, etc.)? If not, I strongly recommend a
psycho-educational or neuropsychological evaluation, which will
help identify specific areas of learning strengths and weaknesses
and can guide interventions. Even though your son is in private
school, you can request an free evaluation through your local
public school district (this should be done in writing) or pay
for a private evaluation with a licensed educational, clinical,
or neuro- psychologist.
Best of Luck,
Alisa